1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector configured to be fitted to a connector to perform electrical connection of a signal transmission medium such as a coaxial cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a variety of ordinary electrical equipments or the like, an electric connector is widely used for the purpose of connecting a terminal portion of a signal transmission medium comprising a coaxial cable or the like to a printed wiring board. The electric connector comprises, for example, a plug connector to which the signal transmission medium is connected and a receptacle connector mounted on the printed wiring board, and, first, the signal transmission medium such as a coaxial cable is connected to a rear end edge of the plug connector, thereafter, a projection for fitting provided in the plug connector is inserted into an opening for fitting of the receptacle connector, and thus both the connectors are fitted to each other.
Such an electric connector has a main body housing formed of an insulating member and a conductive ground shell is attached to the main body housing in order to form a signal shield or ground circuit. Then, for example, as also described in the following patent literatures, the conductive ground shell has a connector-side ground connecting member (a ground spring piece or the like) that is brought in contact with a conductive ground shell of another connector serving as a fitting mate for the electric connector, and it is also provided with a board-side ground connecting member (a soldering piece or the like) that is brought in contact with the above-described printed wiring board or an arbitrary board formed as a signal transmission medium such as a flexible printed circuit (FPC) or a flexible flat cable (FFC).
The connector-side ground connecting member (the ground spring piece or the like) and the board-side ground connecting member (the soldering piece or the like), which are provided on the conductive ground shell, may be formed of tongue-piece-like members integrated with a main body of the conductive ground shell in some cases, or may be formed as independent contact members in other cases, but, in any case, the connector-side ground connecting member and the board-side ground connecting member are electrically connected to each other, thereby the connector serving as a fitting mate for the electric connector and the board are ground-connected to form a ground circuit.
However, generally, the connector-side ground connecting member (the ground spring piece or the like) and the board-side ground connecting member (the soldering piece or the like) of the above-described conductive ground shell are disposed without considering their positional relationship. That is, the connector-side ground connecting member of a connector is disposed at a position suitable to another connector serving as a fitting mate for the connector, while the board-side ground connecting member of the another connector is disposed at a position suitable to a board to be connected. As a result, the positional relationship between both the connecting members is such that they are arbitrarily dispersed, therefore there is the possibility that a ground current (an earth current) to be caused to flow between both the connecting members flows toward the board-side ground connecting member disposed at a suitable position within the conductive ground shell, electrical loss or an undesired inducing phenomenon occurs, which may result in adverse influence on the grounding property of the conductive ground shell.
[Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2009-199891
[Patent Literature 2: JP-A-2003-331993